What is the difference between cpu and memory usage

The Red Pea 3 3 silver badges 9 9 bronze badges. Kyle Brandt Kyle Brandt 3, 3 3 gold badges 33 33 silver badges 37 37 bronze badges. Ooker: I think he means virtual memory?

And the bookshelf is permanent storage. Mmmmmmm nice. Nice explanation : — Jarnail S. RAM is used to save data. CPU time is used to process data. Glen Y. Amok Amok 1 1 silver badge 5 5 bronze badges. Maximus Minimus Maximus Minimus 5 5 bronze badges. The Overflow Blog. Podcast Explaining the semiconductor shortage, and how it might end.

Does ES6 make JavaScript frameworks obsolete? Featured on Meta. Now live: A fully responsive profile. Related 2. Hot Network Questions. Question feed. Super User works best with JavaScript enabled. Accept all cookies Customize settings. RAM is used to save data. CPU time is used to process data. There is no relationship between CPU and memory usage. A process can occupy all CPUs of a system but use only a minimal amount of memory.

Also, a process can allocate all memory available on a system but only use minimal CPU time. So there is no relation between both. They are then added and the result, which in this case is 13, is then returned to the RAM. The CPU is the actual component that dictates the speed of the entire system as it does the processing. In the old days, not having enough RAM would simply mean that your program would not run. But nowadays, operating system use page files to extend the RAM so that programs will still run.

But page files, which are stored on the hard drive, are very slow and can cause the CPU to wait for the data; thereby slowing down the entire computer. In most computers, with the exception of multi-processor systems, the only way to upgrade a processor would be to replace it with a faster one, mainly because you only have one slot for the processor.

In contrast, there are two or more slots for RAM in a motherboard. Because of this, it is common practice for people who are tight on budget to splurge on the processor then just get a single RAM module. They can later add more RAM modules when they have the budget.

It is also worth noting the processors and the motherboard they use are specific to a certain manufacturer.